The Prince and the Poltergeist
by SuperheroGeek13
Summary: Daniel Fenton has only ever wanted to live up to the legacy of his royal Ghost Hunting family, but he's never so much as glimpsed a spook before in his life. That all changes when he comes face to face with a specter known as Danny Phantom.
1. Prologue

Daniel sat beside his father at the banquet table as the hefty man down yet another course of ham. It truly was one of the finest feasts that Daniel had ever laid eyes on and he could hardly imagine the sort of delicacies that would be laid out for dessert, but his eyes were darting to the doors none the less. This was his first trip to Castle Vladimir and rumors had spread that the place was haunted by uneasy spirits. Daniel had endured a long journey across the Kingdom to come here and he wasn't leaving until he found a ghost.  
>Daniel glanced across the room for the party's host and found that the man was strangely absent. He began slouching in his chair, hoping to slip under the table while his parents were busying themselves with the meal, but he was halted by a swift kick in the knee. He cringed, holding in a cry of pain as he glanced across the table to his sister's disapproving face. She, of course, was the one that had kicked him out of some unwelcome need to keep her brother in his princely place. He straightened up and glared at her briefly before turning to his father.<br>"My lord," he began respectfully. "We're all very impressed with the spread, truly, but who in their right mine plans a meal with fifteen courses? Fifteen!"  
>"Oh, Danny-boy," the large man replied. "Vladdy's just showing us his appreciation as the Lord Regnant."<br>"And I'm quite sure that it's not everyday that he plays host to his King and Queen," his mother added, wiping her face with her napkin.  
>"Well, I couldn't eat another bite," he announced, drawing the attention of the other dinner guests at table.<br>"Prince Daniel," his sister chimed in quickly. "Surely you don't mean to make a fool of our host in his absents."  
>Daniel finally looked up from his sulking to realize that the other dozen or so royals at table were glaring at him disapprovingly. He smiled and waved off his sister's comment saying, "Um...I meant of course that I couldn't eat another bite...because...uh..."<br>"The idle words of youth!" his sister sighed with a lighthearted smile at their audience. "What can we do beside beg your pardon, ladies and gentlemen?"  
>That caused the people to chuckle and nod and then they returned to their meal.<br>"Gee, thanks, Jazz," Daniel nearly growled under his breath.  
>"Please save the sultry teenage angst for the privacy of our own home," she warned. Jasmine then turned her attention away from her brother and began talking to her fellow princesses about stately matters.<br>As Prince Daniel sat sulking, the first course of dessert was served. He'd give his future Kingdom for the power to become invisible.  
>Then it came to him.<br>"Mom! Dad!" he shouted suddenly. "Is that a ghost?"  
>Jasmine hardly had a moment to glare at him before the King and Queen leapt from their seats shouting, "Ghosts!"<br>In a flash, they were fully equipped with blasters, lasers, and containment units and leaping up onto the table. Daniel ducked under the table with a sly smile and then crawled as quickly as he could for the door.  
>"Alright! Nobody move!" he heard his parents shouting. "No ghost interrupts King Jack Fenton's dinner and gets away with it!"<br>Daniel made his way to the front door and then bolted down the hall. There may not have been a ghost in the Banquet Hall, but he was sure that he could find one in the laboratory. He'd passed it on the tour of the house earlier, but none of them had been allowed to go inside.  
>He reached the giant medal doors and slammed them open. Just as he had thought, there was a ghost portal on the far side of the room, built right into the stone wall. It was offline, but he recognized the design from his father's early blueprints.<br>Daniel walked slowly across the reflective silver floor, passing by all sorts equipment without so much as a glance. He stepped into the portal, running his hand across the circuitry of the long tunnel.  
>"Prince Daniel?" called a voice from behind him.<br>The teenager spun around to find the host of the party standing in the open doorway.  
>"Vladimir!" the boy said in surprise. "I...I was just...uh..."<br>The man walked into the lab, his long black cape billowing behind him as he smiled at the young prince.  
>"Snooping around my portal?" he asked. "Well, I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."<br>Vladimir quickly strode to Daniel's side and ushered the boy out of the portal. They both walked quickly through the lab, the prince glancing longingly back at the tunnel.  
>"Your father and I worked on these portals together, you know?" Vlad continued. "Back when he was a just a prince himself."<br>"Yeah, I know," Daniel replied as they both stepped out into the hall.  
>"The youthful days we spent tracking and hunting ghosts," he reminisced. "However, I hear that you yourself haven't come face to face with any of our ectoplasmic friends, have you?"<br>Daniel sighed and glanced towards the lab one last time as his host guided them back towards the Banquet Hall. Even his sister had encountered a specter once before, but he, the son and heir to the throne of the greatest ghost hunters in the world, hadn't so much as glimpsed a spook.

* * *

><p>When the teenager and the master left the laboratory, their voices could still be heard echoing through the hallway. A single small solitary figure appeared beside the ghost portal, as if he had been standing there invisibly the whole time. He had snow white hair, glowing green eye, and shared an uncanny resemblance to the prince, although he was a good deal younger.<p>

The boy zipped through the air to the doorway and glanced timidly after the two retreating figures in the hallway.  
>"Prince Daniel?" the boy whispered.<br>The teenager must have heard him because he turn around suddenly and looked directly at him. The boy turned invisible on instinct and had apparently evaded detection. Master Vladimir turned to glare at the specter, causing him to retreat back into the safety of the lab.  
>"I don't understand," the boy blurted out. "How could that be Prince Daniel?"<br>The boy dropped back to the ground and started pacing it wildly. "He can't be Prince Daniel!" he protested as he glanced down at his reflection on the floor.  
>"But if he is...then who am I?"<p>

* * *

><p><em>He's Phantom<em>  
><em>Danny Phantom<em>

_Yo Danny Fenton, Prince of wide Régime,_  
><em>Where his parents reign as the King and Queen<em>  
><em>Trying to inherit the ghost huntin' gene<em>

_He's gonna rule 'em all cuz he's Danny Fenton_

_Oh, but the evil Vladimir would not just quit_  
><em>He wanted to big King and that was it<em>  
><em>But he was half ghost and that can't be changed<em>  
><em>Against ghost hunters he'd be shortchanged.<em>

_So Vlad started scheming and then realized_  
><em>They couldn't fight a ghost in their own son's guise<em>  
><em>Such a daring scheme really seemed worth a try<em>  
><em>He'd be much more unique then the other guy<em>

_So the other Danny knew what he had to do_  
><em>Though much of what he's told is quite untrue<em>  
><em>It's time to pull the switcheroo<em>

_Gonna rule 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom_  
><em>Gonna rule 'em all cuz he's Danny Fenton<em>  
><em>Gonna rule 'em all cuz he's<em>  
><em>...Danny Phantom<em>


	2. Chapter 1: Lord Masters' Apprentice

Danny walked from his room into the laboratory of the castle and looked around inquisitively. "Lord Masters?" he called. "I'm here on time! Ya know, for a change."

There was no answer so the young boy walked over to the table where the ghost studying equipment was kept. There were containment units coated with anti-ghost residue, sensors that blinked to life as Danny drew near, beakers filled with a verity of glowing liquids, and a small sign that read, "Do Not Touch. This means you, Danny!"

Danny glared at the sign and then proceeded to knock it off the table with a swat of his hand. Then he caught sight of his reflection in a small round mirror that was sitting on the table. He was still taken aback by his ghostly appearance, even though he'd been living with it for nearly a month. His white hair, green eyes, and the eerie glow surrounding him all reminisced of a different person. He took the mirror in his hands and frowned down at it. The glass began to shimmer with a green light and Danny dropped it in surprise. The mirror stopped just short of hitting the floor and then floated up into the air until it was hovering just above Danny's head.

"Now, now, Prince Daniel," a familiar voice echoed. "There is a reason for that sign, I assure you."

Vladimir Masters appeared before him, holding the mirror carefully in his hands as he shook his head at the boy.

"Lord Masters!" Danny exclaimed. "I didn't see you there."

"Of course you didn't," the man sighed. "I was using my powers of invisibility."

Masters put the mirror back on the table and then strode to the center of the room. "Which, incidentally, is just what we're going to be practicing today," he announced. A ring of light past over the man and he transformed right before Danny's eyes. His black clothes and cape changed to white, with black accents, his well combed grey hair was spiked and black, his blue eyes were now completely red, and his skin was a pale green color.

"Now let's see if you can become invisible without going intangible for a change," the man smirked.

Danny frowned determinedly at the man and his eyes began to glow. "Invisibility! Coming right up!" he said. He held his arms out to either side and he did indeed become translucent, but unbeknownst to him, he was also slowly sinking into the floor. "Ha! See! Just call me Inviso-Bill!"

"Uh-huh," Vladimir sighed. "Do me a favor and make sure I turned off the lights while you're down there."

"What?" Danny managed to ask before he realized that he was already waist deep in the floor. He cried out in a panic, which only made him sink faster to the lower levels of the castle. He fell all the way into the entryway of the castle where he plummeted down from the high ceiling to the stone floor below.

Danny pulled himself onto his knees and stared down at the crack he had made in the floor. He grabbed his cape and started trying to buff the crack away, but Vladimir appeared in that spot, causing him to jump back.

"I…uh…I can pay for that," Danny assured him with a nervous smile.

Vladimir glared down at the boy in disappointment. "Prince Daniel, honestly, it's as if you don't even want to gain control of your powers."

Danny jumped to his feet and stared at his mentor pleadingly. "No! Lord Masters, I do! I swear!"

"The King and Queen trusted you to me," the man sighed as he turned his back to the boy. "I don't know how I'm going to tell them that I've failed to train you. And they were so looking forward to seeing you again, too."

"What am I, invisible?!" Danny shouted.

Vladimir turned back to the boy, but found that Danny was nowhere to be seen. The man blinked in surprise and failed to notice when the boy reappeared behind him, dropping his invisibility just long enough to shout, "Boo!"

Vladimir wasn't startled, but he turned around to look for Danny in annoyance. "Oh sure," the man scoffed. "You can fly around unseen, but you can't keep yourself from falling through the ground. Do you really think that your parents are going to coat the entire Kingdom in anti-ghost residue just to keep you from falling to China?"

Danny reappeared floating at Vladimir's side, his long ghostly tail trailing where his legs had once been. He shrugged his shoulders with a lighthearted smile. "Eh, it'd be nice," he replied.

Vladimir pointed his finger at Danny and a beam of energy shot from it, sending the boy flying into one of the many stone pillars lining the entryway.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Danny cried in surprise.

"Why didn't you go intangible to avoid that attack?" his teacher asked disappointedly.

"I wasn't ready!" the ghost-boy complained.

"Ready. Set. Go," Vladimir said before he shot another beam of energy at his student. Danny leapt out of the way and watched as the pillar he'd been standing next to cracked and blacked from the attack. Another beam quickly followed and Danny had to fly up into the air to avoid it.

"Quit it!" he yelled.

"I suggest that you put up a shield," Vladimir sighed as he shot at the boy again. Danny dodged the attack and then began rubbing his hands together frantically.

"Shield, shield, shield," he muttered. "Charge energy in hands…green glow…and…"

Danny's hand did begin to glow, but then a beam of green energy shot from them straight at Lord Masters. The man raised an energy shield before his face without lifting a finger, blocking Danny's attack.

"Do I get points for that?" the boy asked nervously.

The ring of light passed over Vladimir again and he returned to his human form. "There is no 'A' for effort in my class, Prince Daniel," he replied. "Only a 'D' for Disappointment."

Masters made his way up one of the long stairways that lead to the second floor. Danny trailed after him, flying silently through the air.

"So, that's it?" the boy asked. "No more lessons for the day?"

"I have a meeting with the Manson family this afternoon," Masters replied. "So you're going to have to stay confined to the lab until they depart."

"What? For how long?" Danny sighed.

"It might actually take the entire week to complete our business," Masters shrugged.

"A week?!" the boy shouted only inches from Vladimir's ear.

"Yes, a week! And I don't want their visit disturbed by any ghostly wailing!" the man scolded.

They were on the second floor now and soon they were before the laboratory doors. Vladimir pulled one of the doors open and gestured that Danny should go inside. The boy frowned but flew into the room with no other protests.

"What's the harm in anyone seeing me anyway?" Danny asked as he lowered himself onto the floor. "Even if I get complete control of my powers, I'll still look like a freak."

"You're only half-ghost, my dear boy," his teacher said as he entered the room, transforming back into his ghost form as he did so. "I learned to control my powers…and so will you, in time."

"I won't learn anything if I have to stay cooped up in this lab!"

"Very well, Prince Daniel," the man almost taunted. "Then change your appearance. If you can get yourself to look just like the old Prince then you will be free to roam the halls and return to your family."

Danny blinked in surprise. Lord Masters had never even hinted to the idea that he could look like his normal self again. He knew that his teacher could revert back to his human form, but could he really do the same?

The boy closed his eyes and focused on the last time he remembered being a normal person. He had been in Castle Fentonworks with his sister and his parents. They had been telling stories of their long success as ghost hunters and about the Fenton Portal that would one day be able to open up into the ghost world.

A ring of light appeared around his waist and it split in two as it passed over his head and his ankles, changing his black clothes and cape white and eliminating the eerie glow that usually emanated around him. Danny stared down at his hands in amazement and then turned his attention to his own reflection on the polished metal floor. He had black hair and blue eyes again, he was normal again.

"I…I did it!" he exclaimed as he turned to his teacher. "Lord Masters, it worked!"

The ring of light shot over the boy again, even quicker this time, and he was transformed back into his ghostly form. Danny stared down at his hands in disappointment as they glowed with an eerie white light.

"But…I don't understand," Danny muttered in frustration.

Lord Masters smiled, his fangs visible, as he walked over to put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"If you learn anything from our training today, Prince Daniel, let it be this; you can have anything you want if you're willing to do whatever is necessary to take it."

Vladimir stepped back again and gestured to the boy grandly. "You've just taken your first step towards being the crowned Prince of the Fenton's Kingdom."

Danny smiled; genuinely glad to hear that he had at least done something right for a change.

"Lord Masters!" called a rather loud and gravelly female voice from outside the lab.  
>"Lesson's over! Stay out of sight!" Vladimir said quickly as he slammed his hand against a big green button in the corner.<br>"Wait! What are you-" Danny hardly got out before the glass cylinder shot out of the ground, trapping him. He glared at his teacher, crossed his arms and then became invisible. He couldn't phase through this glass, so it was better that he just comply with orders until his teacher let him out.  
>Vladimir reverted back to his human form and went to answer the door. A teenage girl stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips and her chin jutting forward.<br>"Ah, Lady Manson," Vladimir said cordially, ignoring the girl's crass demeanor. "What can I do for you, my dear?"  
>"You were supposed to meet with me and my parents about the Nurturing Nature Gala half an hour ago," the girl complained.<br>"And you came all the way here to the lab to remind me! You really are such a responsible young girl!" Vladimir said quickly, ushering the girl out again.  
>Danny pressed his face against the glass, trying his best see the girl over Vladimir's shoulder.<br>She had short black hair, violet eyes with matching makeup, and she was wearing a gothic style black and green dress. Danny had met the other members of the Manson family before when he was still human, but none of them were anything like this girl. They were cheery and annoying, but she looked nothing of the sort.

Lord Masters slammed the door behind him and Danny was left alone in the laboratory. He hoped that this dumb old Gala or whatever would be over with soon so that he'd be free to roam the rest of the castle again. He hated being cooped up in the laboratory.


	3. Chapter Two: Phantom Footsteps

Danny blew his icy breath against the glass surface of his prison and it fogged up. He used his fingers to doodle pictures of rockets and stars as he thought fondly about growing up to be an astronaut. His mother and father had never really encouraged his dream, but maybe they'd let him pursue it now that he could no longer take the ghost hunting throne.

A gentle humming noise began to echo from somewhere outside the laboratory. Danny turned away from his fading doodles and pressed his ear against the glass of his cylindrical prison. The sound was coming from below him in the east wing. Danny knew the castle well enough to guess that it was coming from the Grand Ballroom.

The castle had been quiet for two whole days, with no sign of Lord Masters. Danny was starting to go stir crazy alone in the laboratory and this distant humming was the most interesting distraction he'd had all day. He focused his powers and pressed his hand hard against the glass, trying to phase through it. The glass began to glow with a strange blue light and then he was knocked back by a sudden jolt. He slammed head first into the opposite side of the cylinder and was knocked to his knees by yet another jolt. "Stupid anti-ghost glass!" he muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.

The ghost boy pressed his ear to the ground to listen for the strange humming and realized something he should have figured out earlier; the floor of the lab was still made of metal. He quickly turned himself completely intangible and fell through the floor. He plummeted towards the floor of the entryway, bracing himself with a yelp. Then he stopped, levitating just inches above the ground in his solid form once again.

"Huh, you'd think Lord Masters would have thought of that," Danny mused as he looked back up towards the ceiling.

The humming sounded again and now that it was just a door away, he could clearly hear that it was the sound of music. He quickly flew up to the main doors to the Grand Ballroom and pressed his ear up against it. "One, two, three, One two, thre-ow!" he heard someone say over the music. "Sorry!" another voice apologized.

Danny phased through the double doors cautiously and found that the Ballroom was decorated with lights and balloons and that the music was coming from a boom box on the main stage in the corner.

In the middle of the main dance floor stood Lady Sam Manson, her hair made up into long stands that resembled the legs of a spider and her dress had an equally beautiful and gothic.

Danny didn't recognize the girl's would be dance partner. He had short blond hair, bright blue eyes, and was wearing a black tux with a bow tie. "Sorry about that," the boy told Sam. "Sometimes I feel like I have two left feet."

"Not a problem," Sam assured him. "But we're not going get anywhere if you keep apologizing every misstep."

"Sorry," the boy sighed.

"Prince Dexter, I realize that it can be hard moving into a new kingdom, but you can relax. There's nothing scary about the Fenton Kingdom." As Lady Manson finished assuring the prince, she glanced up towards the door and saw the translucent form of the ghost boy staring back at her. She cried out in surprise and Danny fell through the door with a yelp.

He was lying on the tile floor of the ballroom now, completely visible, with the two royal teens staring down at him. He quickly jumped to his feet and backed up against the door, too flustered to phase through it.

"I-uh-I can explain!" he stuttered as he glanced between the two older kids.

"You're a ghost!" Prince Dexter announced as he pointed down at the boy.

"No, no! You don't understand!" Danny wanted to explain, but he knew that his existence had to remain a secret.

The young girl stepped towards him, her eyes wide with wonder as she reached out her hand. She placed it on the boy's shoulder tentatively and Danny flinched from how warm her hand felt against his eerily cold skin.

"You _are_ a ghost, aren't you?" she asked in awe.

"Kinda…" he admitted, figuring that an explanation about the difference between ghosts and half-ghost would only cause more trouble.

"That's…" she began, staring into his glowing green eyes. "That's awesome!"

"Beg pardon?" Danny and Dexter asked in chorus.

Lady Mason turned back to her dance partner with excitement twinkling in her eyes. "You never see stray ghosts wandering around this Kingdom!" she explained. "Not with the Fearsome Fentons ruling over the lands!"

"You're not freaking out?!" Prince Dexter shouted, clearly freaked out by the matter.

"I should probably go," Danny said as he reached for the doorknob.

"Wait! Please don't!" the girl implored as she turned back to the ghost-boy. "I'm Sam Manson and this is Prince Dexter Poyne. What's your name?"

"I'm Danny Fent-fen-fen-Phantom!" he faltered as he realized that he couldn't tell them that he was the prince.

"Danny Phantom? A bit on the nose there, Slick," Dexter pointed out, causing Sam to elbow him in the ribs.

"You don't have to be afraid of us," the girl assured Danny. "Why don't you stay and dance with us? Prince Dexter needs all the practice he can get."

Prince Dexter frowned at her comment, but Danny hardly took notice. He'd worried for weeks that people would run in fear at the sight of him, but these teenagers were acting perfectly accepting of his ghostly appearance. "You guys aren't afraid of me?" he asked.

"You think you're the first ghost we've ever seen?" Dexter asked dubiously.

"And you're like eight years old," Lady Manson pointed out.

"I'm ten!" Danny corrected, though his voice choked with laughter. He'd forgotten how much fun it was to hang out with kids his own age. "I guess I could hang out for a little while."

"Great!" the girl hollered as she leapt across the ballroom to turn up the volume on her boom box. A fast pace beat began to play and Dexter quickly took to spinning and pointing.

Danny floated over to offer his hand to Lady Manson, able to do so at eye level while he was floating on air.

"May I have this dance, Lady Manson?" he asked in a very princely manner.

"Please call me Sam," she replied. "And yes, you may."

She took his hand and then pulled him across the dance floor while spinning around dizzyingly. She made some joke about Danny being really light on his feet, but he didn't really hear her over the pounding music. They spun and flailed through the whole CD for almost an hour before Sam insisted that they get back to serious practicing.

Sam took turns demonstrating the dance steps with Danny, who knew them all very well, and then practicing them with Prince Dexter. Danny did his best not to laugh at the Prince's efforts, but he snickering carried throughout the room.

"Everybody's a critic," Dexter sighed with a half hearted smile.

"Sorry, Dex," Danny apologized. "It took me years to learn those moves."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I had just finished learning to walk, so I guess that was kind of a factor."

Danny laughed at his own joke and then Sam walked over to turn off the boom box. "Well, boys, this has been great, but I need to get back to the other preparations for the ball," she announced.

"Same time tomorrow, doll?" Dexter asked with a wink.

"Of course, but don't ever call me that again," she warned with a frown.

"Sure thing, Sam," he agreed, before turning to Danny. "Hey, will you be back here tomorrow, Phantom?"

"Uh…well," he hesitated as his friends looked at him expectantly. Master Masters had always stressed that no one could know his secret. The half-ghost son of the famous ghost hunting Fentons would ruin the family name and the kingdom would lose faith in its King. He couldn't risk that, but Sam and Dexter wouldn't tell, would they?

"I'll be here," he said with a smile.

He quickly turned intangible and then flew out of the ballroom through the roof. To his satisfaction, he heard Sam say something about how awesome that was as he left. He'd have to figure out a couple of new tricks before he saw them again. Who knew that having ghost powers could actually be kind of cool?

Danny flew back through the floor of the laboratory and settled back into his glass cylinder prison. Master Vlad Masters was nowhere to be seen, so what harm could there be in sneaking out a couple more times?


End file.
